Intubation is a standard practice involving insertion of a tube into a trachea providing oxygen to a patient during surgery. A standard procedure for direct intubation of patients involves manipulating a patient to give a clinician performing an intubation a direct line of sight of the patient's larynx, so as to guide an intubation tube properly into the patient's trachea. In some cases, obtaining a direct line of sight cannot be achieved and a video image originating from the tip of an intubation device is used to identify airway landmarks and help guide the tube through the larynx.
Intubations must be completed within a narrow time window after a patient has been pre-oxygenated and breathing has been stopped during which time there is no oxygen supply until the tube is in place and begins to provide oxygen. Failure to properly place the tube in a short time can lead to aborting the planned operation and risk the patient's health. In the case of pre-oxygenation, the time when oxygen supply is cut off occurs when a face mask providing an oxygen supply is removed. The recommendation for allowed time can range from 30 seconds per try to up to several minutes depending on the situation.
During an intubation procedure, there is a risk that a clinician could be unaware or loses track of one or both of the time since an oxygen supply has been cutoff from a patient, and an oxygen saturation level of the patient. In the case of the latter, oxygen levels of the patient may be available from other devices, but require the clinician to look at the other device and divert the clinician's focus from the patient and the physical acts involved with the intubation procedure.